t  &ugu£tme'£  IXecorb 


c       2 


Vol.  XXV 


EALEIGH,  N.  0.,  COMMENCEMENT  NUMBER,  1920 


No.  5 


THE  NEGRO  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  THE  SOUTH 


His  Fifty-five  Years  of  Freedom  and  What  He  Has  Done 


(Commencement  Address  at  St.  Augustine's  School,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  May  26,  1920,  by  Chief  Justice 

Walter  Clark,  of  North  Carolina) 


Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen,  of  the 
Faculty,  and  Board  of  Trustees  and 
Friends: 

At  the  close  of  the  great  Civil  War 
the  colored  people  were  like  those  lost 
at  sea,  without  chart  or  compass  by 
which  to  steer  their  way.  There  were 
nearly  4,000,000  throughout  the  south, 
without  education,  without  property, 
without  experience,  with  an  uncharted 
and  unknowable  future  before  them. 
In  this  time  of  stress  and  uncertainty 
there  were  broad-minded  men  in  the 
south  who  understood  the  situation  and 
felt  that  the  first  need  of  the  colored 
people  was  education.  Religious  in- 
struction you  already  had.  Tour  labor 
could  command  a  support,  but  there  was 
need  of  education  that  you  might  walk 
understandingly.  This  institution  is  a 
foundation  created  in  1867  by  an  his- 
toric church,  and  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees with  which  this  institution  was 
organized  was  a  noble  body  of  men 
with  a  broad  outlook.  They  were 
Kemp  P.  Battle,  afterwards  president 
of  our  State  University  and  State 
Treasurer,  Gen.  William  R.  Cox,  a 
gallant  soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  later 
a  member  of  Congress  from  this  dis- 
trict, and  Secretary  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  both  of  whom  have  but  recently 
passed  from  among  us,  full  of  years  and 
of  honors ;  then  there  was  Bishop  At- 
kinson of  this  Diocese,"  of  loved  and 
honored  memory ;  Rev.  Dr.  Mason,  the 
Rector  of  Christ  Church ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Joseph  B.  Cheshire,  Rector  of  Calvary 
Church  at  Tarboro,  N.  C,  and  father 
of  the  beloved  Bishop  of  this  Diocese ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Aldert  Smedes,  founder  and 
Rector  of  St.  Mary's  School ;  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Forbes  of  New  Bern  and  Beaufort ; 
Dr.  A.  J.  DeRossett,  an  honored  lay- 
man in  Wilmington ;  and  Richard  H. 
Smith,  a  wealthy  planter,  and  formerly 
a  large  slave  owner,  of  Halifax.  These 
men  saw  well  into  the  future  and  did 
that  which  was  right  and  their  works 


do  follow  them.  Among'  the  many  acts 
which  they  did  that  were  of  service  to 
their  State  there  was  probably  none  in 
their  lives  which  in  the  long  course  of 
the  years  will  be  of  more  enduring  ben- 
efit to  their  State  and  its  people  than 
that  which  they  did  here.  They  builded 
wiser  than  they  knew. 

Your  institution  beginning  at  that 
time  was  probably  the  pioneer  in  the 
great  work  of  education  of  the  colored 
race  in  the  South.  It  was  a  light  in 
great  darkness.  It  has  kept  its  lamps 
burning  and  trimmed.  It  has  educated 
many  thousands  who  have  been  a  bene- 
fit to  their  State  and  their  race  and  to- 
day your  institution  has  a  well  equipped 
plant  and  more  than  500  students. 

Progress  of  Colored  People 

When  requested  by  the  authorities 
here  to  address  you  I  felt  unequal  to 
the  task  of  filling  your  expectations 
after  these  walls  have  heard  the  learn- 
ed, entertaining  and  instructive  ad- 
dresses from  Governor  Bickett  and 
other  orators.  But  at  the  request  of 
my  good  friend  and  yours,  Bishop  Ches- 
hire, I  consented  to  undertake  it,  with 
the  understanding  that  I  would  make 
a  plain,  simple  talk,  giving  some  idea 
of  the  progress  that  the  colored  people 
have  made,  especially  in  education,  in 
attaining  higher  standards  of  living 
and  morals,  in  the  acquirement  of  prop- 
erty, in  short  a  brief  summary  of  what 
you  have  done  for  yourselves  and  for 
your  State,  in  these  fifty-odd  years,  and 
what  the  State  has  done  for  you. 

In  looking  into  the  subject  I  was 
amazed  to  find,  and  ashamed  to  learn, 
how  little  I  really  knew  on  the  sub- 
ject. I  applied  to  the  State  Tax  Com- 
mission and  the  State  Department  of 
Education  and  to  the  Department  of  the 
Interior,  and  to  the  Agricultural  De- 
partment, at  Washington,  also  to  the 
War  Department  for  the  record  of  the 
colored  people  in  War,  and  to  the  au- 
thorities of  this  institution.     Each  and 


all  kindly  and  promptly  replied  with 
authentic  information  and  with  such 
abundance  of  literature  that  my  em- 
barrassment now  is  not  lack  of  ma- 
terial, but  how  to  condense  it.  A  most 
interesting  volume  could  be  written  on 
the  subject  of  the  progress  of  the  col- 
ored people  during  the  eventful  past 
half  century. 

The  necessity  of  condensing  renders 
almost  necessary  a  statement  of  facts 
and  figures  which  are  usually  dry  and 
very  uninteresting  to  an  audience,  but 
on  this  occasion  they  are  really  elo- 
quent, if  I  could  properly  present  them. 
as  a  picture  of  the.  marvelous  progress 
of  a  great  body  of  10,000,000  people  in 
their  onward  march  in  civilization  and 
to  a  higher  plane  in  life  amid  incon- 
ceivable difficulties  and  despite  many 
discouragements. 

Interest  in  Negro 

Nearly  2.000  years  ago  Terence  awak- 
ened thunders  of  applause  in  the  Ro- 
man Forum  when  he  said  in  the  so- 
norous tongue  of  old  Rome :  "Homo 
sum ;  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum 
puto,"  that  is  "I  am  a  man  and  there- 
fore nothing  that  concerns  the  welfare 
of  the  human  race  is  indifferent  to  me.'' 
It  was  a  great  and  noble  sentiment 
which  has  brought  the  name  of  this 
great  poet  and  writer  down  through 
the  ages.  It  is  a  coincidence  that  may 
be  of  some  interest  to  you  that  he  was 
born  in  Africa  and  though  of  the  white 
race  he  was  brought  as  a  slave  to  Rome, 
for  throughout  Roman  and  Grecian,  and 
earlier  times  prisoners  taken  in  war,  if 
not  slain,  became  slaves,  and  their  chil- 
dren after  them,  and  throughout  the 
Roman  Empire  its  millions  of  slaves, 
many  of  them  highly  educated  men, 
were  white  people. 

I  was  born  and  reared  on  a  large 
farm,  and  my  earliest  friends,  whom  I 
still  remember  with  affection,  were 
among  the  colored  people  around  me. 
I  feel  a  deep  and  geunine  interest  in 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  RECORD 


your  welfare,  in  the  great  progress  you 
have  made,  in  the  steady  advance  in 
education  and  in  well  heing,  in  the  great 
service  which  you  have  rendered  to 
your  State  in  peace  and  in  war,  and  the 
assurance  which  the  world  feels  that 
your  progress  and  advancement  will  he 
accelerated  as  the  years  go  by. 

It  is  absolutely  impossible  for  any 
man,  much  less  any  race  or  large  body 
of  people,  to  live  solely  for  and  to 
themselves.  None  are  above  the  need 
of  sympathy  nor  can  they  withdraw 
themselves  from  their  duty  to  others. 
What,  affects  one  race  will  as  surely  af- 
fect others.  If  ignorance  is  permitted 
to  abound  the  security  of  property  is 
shaken.  If  slums  are  permitted  to  exist 
the  diseases  there  bred  will  invade  the 
palaces  of  the  rich.  If  injustice  is  per- 
petrated and  those  in  power  and  au- 
thority do  not  punish  and  repress  it, 
the  foundation  of  government  is  im- 
paired. Truly  in  this  world  we  are 
"our  brother's  keeper."  The  query 
made  of  old,  "Who  is  my  neighbor," 
and  why  should  I  take  any  interest  in 
his  welfare,  was  never  better  exempli- 
fied than  by  an  incident  which,  is  said 
to  have  taken  place  in  Raleigh  not  long 
since.  A  lady  had  two  beautiful  chil- 
dren, the  idols  of  her  heart.  They  were 
stricken  with  that  terrible  disease, 
scarlet  fever.  They  had  been  guarded 
from  exposure  to  every  evil,  and  in  her 
terror  she  was  unable  to  recall  where 
they  could  possibly  have  contracted 
the  contagion.  When  her  cook  came 
the  next  morning  the  lady  was  consider- 
ate enough  to  tell  her  that  she  had  bet- 
ter not  come  in,  as  her  two  children  had 
been  stricken  with  scarlet  fever.  The 
cook  replied  that  she  did  not  mind  it  at 
all,  for  her  own  children  were  just  get- 
ting over  an  attack  and  that  one  of 
them  bad  died.  The  lady  had  taken  no 
interest  in  the  surroundings  or  troubles 
of  her  servant,  had  made  no  inquiries 
and  offered  no  aid,  but  on  the  viewless 
winds  the  disease  had  traveled  and  the 
germs  which  might  have  been  destroyed 
by  medical  attention  rendered  in  time 
to  the  children  of  her  neighbor — though 
that  neighbor  was  a  cook — made  her 
own  home  the  abode  of  death. 

In  making  a  brief  statement  of  the 
most  striking  incidents  of  the  wonder- 
ful progress  you  have  made,  I  shall  re- 
strict myself  to  a  consideration  of  the 
subject  as  a  business  and  humanitarian 
proposition  and  your  development  as  a 
matter  of  history,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  political  standpoint. 

To  get  a  fairer  and  fuller  idea  of  the 
subject  and  contrast  the  status  of  your 
people  when  this  institution  was 
founded  and  at  present  it  may  aid  us 
to  consider  the  location  of  the  colored 


people  in  this  State  and  their  relative 
numbers  in  proportion  to  total  popula- 
tion. 

Distribution   in   North    Carolina 

In  North  Carolina,  in  20  counties,  be- 
ginning with  Rowan  and  then  Burke, 
and  in  nearly  all  the  counties  north 
and  west  of  Burke,  there  is  less  than 
one  person  in  ten  who  is  colored.  In 
some  counties  in  the  extreme  west  there 
are  practically  none  at  all.  In  one 
county,  I  believe,  the  census  shows  only 
3  colored  people,  and  in  others  but  the 
merest  handful.  On  the  other  hand 
there  are  only  14  counties  in  the  State 
in  which  the  colored  people  are  in  the 
majority,  and  in  most  of  them  barely  a 
majority.  Contrary  to  the  general  opin- 
ion these  14  counties  are  not  located  in 
the  east,  or  in  a  group  on  our  southern 
border.  Ten  of  these  14  counties  in 
which  trie  colored  people  predominate 
in  numbers  are  in  one  compact  group 
on  the  northeastern  border  of  our  State 
— Vance,  Warren,  Halifax,  Edgecombe, 
Northampton,  Hertford,  Bertie,  Cho- 
wan, Perquimans,  and  Pasquotank — 
the  other  4  counties  are  isolated.  One 
is  on  our  northern  or  Virginia  border — 
Caswell.  One  only  is  in  the  east — Cra- 
ven. The  other  two  are  on  our  south- 
ern border,  but  not  contiguous — Scot- 
land and  Anson.  On  the  other  hand 
over  the  border  in  Virginia  there  are  30 
counties  in  which  the  colored  people  are 
in  the  majority.  To  the  south  of  us 
the  colored  people  are  in  the  majority 
in  the  whole  State  of  South  Carolina, 
and  indeed  in  most  of  the  counties.  In 
none  of  them  is  there  as  low  a  ratio  as 
ten  per  cent  colored,  and  in  four  coun- 
ties they  are  over  75  per  cent.  There 
are  17  so-called  Southern  States,  in- 
cluding Oklahoma,  and  the  ratio  of 
colored  people  to  the  whites  through- 
out the  whole  of  this  great  territory  is 
about  30  per  cent,  ranging  very  low  in 
Kentucky,  West  Virginia,  East  Tennes- 
see, Maryland,  and  Delaware.  In  only 
■  two  States,  South  Carolina  and  Missis- 
sippi, the  colored  people  are  in  a  small 
majority. 

In  North  Carolina  at  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War  the  colored  people  were  about 
36  per  cent  of  the  population.  This 
ratio  has  dwindled  till  by  the  census  of 
1010  it  was  something  over  31  per  cent 
considerably  under  one-third — and  at 
the  present  time  they  probably  number 
a  little  under  30  per  cent,  for  the  cen- 
sus Department  informs  me  that  they 
have  not  yet  complete  returns.  The 
ratio  therefore  of  colored  people  in  this 
State  is  about  the  average  of  the  South 
as  a  whole. 

Change  in  Population 

In  1S65,  when  by  Emancipation  your 
future  was  placed  in  your  own  hands, 


the  number  of  colored  people  in  the 
Union  was  in  round  numbers  5,000,000, 
of  whom  about  4,500,000  were  in  the 
south.  Those  at  the  north  were  all 
free.  The  last  slaves  in  New  Jersey 
had  been  emancipated  in  1850,  and  I 
believe  there  were  a  few  slaves  in  New 
York  and  other  northern  states  till 
about  1S20.  Of  the  4,500,000  in  the 
south  there  were  probably  200,000  previ- 
ously free,  and  among  these,  according 
to  the  census,  were  6,275  colored  peo- 
ple who  were  themselves  the  owners  of 
slaves.  During  the  War  many  also  had 
been  taken  in  the  Federal  lines  or  had 
gone  north,  so  according  to  the  best 
estimates  the  number  of  colored  people 
in  the  South  who  were  emancipated 
were  around  4,000,000.  The  govern- 
ment publications  on  this  subject  are 
necessarily  in  round  numbers,  by  tak- 
ing an  average  for  1865,  the  date  of 
emancipation,  between  the  figures  of 
the  census  of  1860  and  that  of  1S70.  In 
North  Carolina  the  estimate  is  that  at 
the  surrender  there  were  400,000  col- 
ored people. 

Today  in  the  United  States,  exclusive 
of  the  Philippines,  there  are  in  round 
numbers  110,000,000  people.  Of  these 
about  one-tenth — 11  millions — are  col- 
ored people.  There  are  probably  nine 
millions  in  the  Southern  States  and 
something  under  two  millions  in  the 
northern  and  western  States. 

At  our  first  census  in  1790  the  colored 
people  in  the  whole  Union  were  nearly 
one  fifth  (  to  be  exact  19  3-10)  of  the 
entire  population  of  the  Union,  which 
was  slightly  under  4,000,000  at  that 
time,  and  there  were  slaves  in  every 
State  of  the  Union  except  one.  There 
has  been  a  steady  decrease  in  the  pro- 
portion of  colored  people  to  the  whites, 
the  colored  people  being  now  only  about 
one-tenth  in  the  Union,  though  they 
have  increased  from  750,000  at  the  first 
census  to  11,000,000  at  present.  This 
has  been  due  almost  entirely  to  the  im- 
mense immigration  from  foreign  coun- 
tries of  white  people,  there  being  almost 
no  accession  to  the  colored  race  from 
that  source.  Beginning  slowly  this  im- 
migration from  Europe  took  on  enorm- 
ous proportions  until  between  1904  and 
1914  the  average  increase  of  whites  by 
immigration  was  a  million  per  year, 
some  years  largely  more  than  that. 

Negro  and  Immigrant 

It  is  estimated  that  in  this  country 
today  between  thirty  and  thirty-five 
millions  of  people  are  either  foreign- 
born  or  their  children.  These  have  fur- 
nished the  labor  and  the  population  to 
a  very  great  extent  which  have  given 
the  North  and  the  West  their  gigantic 
growth.    A  large  number  of  these,  how- 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  BE  CORD 


ever,  still  speak  only  their  own  langu- 
age and  are  not  yet  fully  assimilated  to 
our  customs  and  habits  and  institutions, 
and  form  a  far  more  serious  problem 
than  the  colored  race,  who  are  100  per 
cent  American  by  birth,  are  100  per 
cent  loyal,  who  all  speak  our  language, 
are  devoted  to  our  institutions  and  are 
professors  of  the  same  religious  faith 
with  the  people  among  whom  they  live. 
Notwithstanding  some  deplorable  con-, 
flicts  there  has  been  therefore  far  less 
racial  conflict  than  in  those  sections 
where  there  are  vast  bodies  of  people 
of  other  races  not  speaking  our  tongue 
and  alien  to  us  in  religious  faith  and 
political  ideas. 

Relative  Loss  in  Population 

In  North  Carolina,  while  accurate 
figures  can  not  yet  be  given  by  the  Cen- 
sus Bureau,  the  best  estimate  is  that 
we  have  now  a  total  population  of 
about  2,750,000,  of  whom  900,000,  or 
about  30  per  cent,  are  colored.  The 
status  and  well  being,  the  continued 
progress  and  contentment  and  the  effec- 
tiveness of  their  labor,  are  of  serious 
interest,  both  from  a  business  and  a 
humanitarian  standpoint,  to  the  entire 
State. 

While  there  has  been  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  colored  people  in  this  and 
other  Southern  States  their  ratio  to 
the  whites  has,  however,  steadily 
dwindled  from  causes  that  are  worthy 
of  consideration.  The  enormous  white 
immigration  at  the  north  has  reduced 
the  national  ratio.  At  the  South,  while 
in  most  parts  there  has  been  small  im- 
migration from  Europe,  or  from  the 
north,  there  has  been  more  or  less  a 
steady  emigration  of  colored  people  to 
the  north,  most  largely  due  to  better 
wages,  but  to  some  extent  to  dissatis- 
faction with  conditions  in  certain  parts 
of  the  south.  In  North  Carolina  some 
years  ago  there  was  a  very  considerable 
emigration  of  colored  people  to  the 
southwestern  states,  under  the  impulse 
of  labor  agents,  who  offered  large  in- 
creases in  wages.  This  became  so  seri- 
ous a  menace  to  our  farmers  in  the 
loss  of  labor  that  stringent  acts  were 
passed  by  our  Legislature  requiring  a 
license  fee  of  $1,000  and  imposing  other 
restrictions. 

The  emigration  to  the  North  in  the 
last  few  years  of  colored  people  is  esti- 
mated by  the  government  authorities  to 
have  been,  after  deductions  for  those 
returning,  a  permanent  loss  of  consider- 
ably over  a  million.  These  have  been 
largely  able-bodied  young  men  or  skilled 
cooks  and  other  domestics. 

Another  cause  for  the  relative  loss  in 
numbers  of  the  colored  people  in  this 
State    is    the    fact,    as    shown    by    the 


Bureau  of  Health,  that  the  mortality 
among  the  colored  people  in  North  Caro- 
lina and  the  South  is  almost  double 
that  among  the  whites.  Among  the 
whites  the  average  mortality  is  13  to 
15  per  thousand,  while  among  the  col- 
ored it  averages  from  25  to  29  per 
thousand.  The  government  authorities 
looking  into  this  matter  were  first  of 
opinion  that  this  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  colored  race,  physically,  were 
of  less  stamina  and  less  able  to  resist 
disease,  but  when  the  great  draft  was 
made  for  the  war  the  records  of  the 
War  Department  show  that  while  75 
per  cent  of  the  colored  people  were  ac- 
cepted as  sound,  only  about  70  per  cent 
of  the  whites  could  pass  the  physical 
test.  This  was  due  to  the  fact,  doubt- 
less, that  the  large  majority  of  colored 
men  were  engaged  in  agriculture,  in 
healthy  and  outdoor  life  and  accus- 
tomed to  exercise. 

Judge  Tourgee,  well  known  in  this 
State,  some  years  ago  created  a  sensa- 
tion in  the  South  by  articles  in  north- 
ern magazines  demonstrating  that  by 
the  greater  relative  increase  of  the 
colored  people  they  would  soon  over- 
whelm the  south.  He  did  this  by  taking 
the  statistics  of  the  higher  birth  rate 
among  the  colored  people  and  not  ad- 
verting to  the  fact  that  their  average 
mortality  was  nearly  double.  This  lat- 
ter lias  now  been  shown  to  be  due  not 
to  inferior  physique,  but  mostly  to  the 
terrific  ratio  of  deaths  among  the  very 
young  children,  which  writers  ascribe  to 
the  lack  of  knowledge  among  their 
mothers  and  the  fact  that  so  many  of 
them  are  engaged  in  field  work  or  in 
domestic  service,  and  can  not  give 
proper  attention  to  their  children. 

Economic  Basis  of  Society 

These  matters  as  to  population  are 
of  great  importance,  not  only  to  his- 
torians, but  to  those  who  consider  that 
the  prosperity  and  progress  of  a  State 
depend  almost  entirely  upon  the  welfare 
and  characteristics  of  its  labor  element 
upon  whom  in  the  last  analysis  rests 
the  structure  of  society  and  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  people. 

All  historians  now  recognize  that  the 
rise  and  fall  of  empires  and  of  govern- 
ment have  not  depended  upon  kings  or 
political  parties,  but  have  been  due  to 
economic  conditions.  The  spread  of 
malaria  in  Rome  was  more  fatal  than 
the  irruption  of  the  barbarians,  and  the 
pestilence  of  the  Black  Plague,  which 
destroyed  so  large  a  portion  of  the  work- 
ing people  in  Europe,  doubled  wages 
and  changed  the  whole  economic  basis 
of  society.  A  shrewd  historian  has  said 
that  it  was  this  that  overthrew  the 
Feudal  system. 


The  basis  of  all  progress  and  indeed 
of  human  existence  is  labor.  The  Crea- 
tor of  all  things  made  only  the  earth, 
the  water,  the  air.  The  forests  that 
have  grown  were  a  part  of  the  soil  and 
the  animals  have  been  dependent  upon 
man  whose  function  has  been  to  de- 
stroy the  harmful  and  to  improve  and 
increase  in  number  those  which  serve 
for  food  or  otherwise  contribute  to  the 
wants  of  the  human  race. 

Outside  of  these  elemental  matters 
everything  on  this  earth  is  the  crea- 
tion of  labor.  It  is  to  labor  that  we  owe 
the  food  which  we  eat,  the  clothes  that 
we  wear,  the  houses  that  we  live  in 
and  everything  which  renders  possible 
the  continuance  of  the  human  race. 
Thought  and  genius  have  created  labor- 
saving  devices,  by  which  one  man  may 
do  the  work  formerly  done  by  ten,  or  a 
hundred,  and  in  some  cases  of  a  thous- 
and men,  but  all  these  would  be  iu  vain 
if  the  human  machine  was  not  there  to 
operate  the  other  machine.  The  gi- 
gantic engine  on  its  narrow  ribbons  of 
steel  that  rushes  across  the  continent 
with  its  long  train  of  cars  has  move- 
ment only  because  human  muscle  and 
human  intelligence  have  brought  out 
the  coal  and  the  ore,  transformed  them 
into  iron  and  steel  and  now  moves  the 
lever  of  the  engine.  The  hills  have 
been  leveled,  the  trees  have  been  made 
into  cross-ties,  the  depots  have  been 
built  from  brick  and  lumber  shaped  by 
human  hands.  Without  these  workers 
the  human  race  would  disappear,  as 
they  have  departed  from  the  once  popu- 
lous Sahara. 

Value  of  Negro  Labor 
It  is  therefore  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance to  every  country  to  consider 
whether  the  supply  of  labor  is  decreas- 
ing or  increasing,  whether  by  educa- 
tion and  proper  support  it  is  becoming 
more  efficient.  In  North  Carolina  we 
have  some  years  made  as  high  as 
1,100,000  bales  of  cotton.  Last  year  we 
made  over  S75,000  bales,  which,  with  its 
seed,  is  worth  at  present  prices 
$200,000,000.  Adding  the  tobacco  and 
other  crops  the  total  agricultural  prod- 
ucts in  the  State  last  year  were  worth 
$6S3,000,000,  according  to  the  United 
States  Agricultural  Department,  mak- 
ing us  the  fourth  State  in  agricultural 
products  in  the  Union. 

The  colored  people,  as  I  have  said, 
are  about  30  per  cent  of  our  population, 
but  as  they  are  more  largely  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  on  the  richest 
lands  in  the  State,  it  is  a  fair  estimate 
that  one-half  of  our  immense  agricul- 
tural production,  in  which  we  now  stand 
fourth  in  the  entire  list  of  4S  states,  has 
(Continued  on  Page  4) 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  RECORD 


&l  gtigugtine'S  Kecorb 

Published  during  the  school  year  at 
Raleigh,  N.  C,  in  the  interest  of  St. 
Augustine's  School,  Rev.  E.  H.  Goold, 
Principal. 


Subscription,  25  cents. 

Entered  at  the  postoffice  in  Raleigh 
as  second-class  matter,  under  .the  Act 
of  March  3,  1879. 

We  have  increased  the  size  of  this 
issue  of  the  Record  in  order  that  we 
may  print  in  full  the  notable  Commence- 
ment address  of  the  Hon.  Walter  Clark, 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
North  Carolina.  At  their  annual  meet- 
ing our  Board  of  Trustees  passed  a  res- 
olution thanking  Judge  Clark  for  his 
address,  and  expressing  the  hope  that 
it  be  given  wide  publicity. 

Will  not  our  friends,  and  the  friends 
of  the  Negro,  both  north  and  south, 
help  in  accomplishing  this  by  calling 
the  address  to  the  attention  of  others, 
especially  public  speakers,  writers,  and 
press  representatives. 

* 

Owing  to  lack  of  space  we  are  com- 
pelled to  omit  our  usual  "Acknowledg- 
ments," as  well  as  other  important 
items.  We  thank  most  heartily  those 
who  have  helped  us  during  the  past 
few  months.  Our  deficit,  however,  is 
still  a  large  one,  and  the  school  and 
hospital  will  need  the  continued  sup- 
port of  their  friends  for  some  time  to 
come. 

At  the  May  meeting  of  the  Presiding 
P.ishop  and  Council  the  following  reso- 
lutions were  adopted,  which  cover  very 
well  the  situation  of  St.  Augustine's  : 

Whereas,  The  Presiding  Bishop  and 
Council  believe  that  many  individuals 
in  many  Parishes  and  Dioceses,  even  in 
those  which  have  completed  their 
quotas  assigned  by  the  Nation-Wide 
Commission,  under  the  authority  of  the 
General  Convention  of  1919,  will  be 
glad  to  hear  of  specific  needs  and  to 
share  in  providing  them,  and 

Whereas,  The  Presiding  Bishop  and 
Council  find  that  the  proceeds  from  the 
Nation-Wide  Campaign  are  insufficient 
to  enable  them  to  meet  all  the  needs  for 
maintenance  and  development  of  many 
institutions  and  other  Church  agencies, 
which  entered  into  the  campaign  and 
thereby  submerged  their  interests  in 
the  common  effort  of  the  Church  in  that 
campaign,  and  have,  therefore,  been 
seriously     reduced     in     their    incomes, 


previously  received  from  individual 
givers,  in  some  cases  reducing  them  to  a 
critical  condition,  and 

Whereas,  The  Presiding  Bishop  and 
Council  feel  the  grave  injury  which  has 
unintentionally  been  done  to  these  en- 
terprises, and  desire  to  render  them  any 
assistance  which  may  be  in  their  power, 
now,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  following  its  action  on 
February  10,  1920,  concerning  special 
gifts,  the  Presiding  Bishop  and  Council 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  need  for  such 
gifts  may  very  properly  be  brought  to 
the  attention  of  persons  in  those  Dio- 
ceses, especially,  which  have  not  com- 
pleted the  quota  assigned  to  them  by 
the  Nation-Wide  Commission,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  orders  of  the  General 
Convention  of  1919. 

(Continued  From  Page  3) 
been  made  by  colored  labor.  That  is  to 
say  $340,000,000  in  agricultural  prod- 
ucts, exclusive  of  the  value  of  their 
labor  as  domestics,  as  workers  on  the 
railroads,  iu  factories  and  in  other 
pursuits. 

Strike  from  our  products  this  im- 
mense sum  of  $340,000,000  annually  and 
the  other  services  rendered  by  colored 
labor,  the  State  would  be  paralyzed. 
From  fourth  in  the  Union  in  the  value 
of  our  products  we  would  sink  to  near 
the  bottom.  The  banks  would  no  lon- 
ger be  full  of  money.  The  railroads 
could  neither  be  supported  or  kept  in 
operation,  at  least  to  the  same  extent. 
The  basis  of  civilization  is  wealth,  and 
wealth  comes  from  production  and  pro- 
duction is  derived,  in  the  last  analysis, 
solely  from  labor.  We  have  a  large 
and  prosperous  element  of  white  labor, 
which,  man  for  man,  may  be  more  pro- 
ductive than  the  same  number  of  col- 
ored men,  but  white  labor  could  not 
supply  their  places  unless  brought 
hither  from  Europe  in  competition  with 
northern  employers  and  their  foreign 
customs  and  alien  tongues  and  ideas 
would  here,  as  at  the  North,  be  a  cause 
of  greater  race  conflicts  than  that 
which  we  have  with  the  colored  people, 
who,  despite  exaggerated  statements, 
are  living  on  the  whole  in  peace  with 
their  white  neighbors  and  in  content- 
ment. Without  a  sufficiency  of  labor 
no  country  can  progress,  and  where  it 
is  diminished  in  number  or  efficiency  it 
is  a  public  calamity.  North  Carolina 
is  dependent  upon  and  interested  in  the 
growth  in  numbers  and  their  greater 
efficiency  by  better  education  and  bet- 
ter sanitary  conditions  and  maintenance 
in  their  physical  and  moral  well  being 
of  all  its  laborers,  white  or  black,  and 
in  the  continued  kindly  relations  be- 
tween the  races. 


Educational  Facilities 

We  have  not  done  enough  for  the 
education  of  either  white  or  colored 
children.  In  educational  matters  this 
State  stands  nearly  at  the  bottom  in 
the  length  of  the  school  term,  in  the 
salaries  to  its  teachers  and  the  appro- 
priation to  schools  and  in  illiteracy.  On 
an  average,  the  State  through,  we  pay 
only  $5.27  per  annum  for  the  education 
of  each  white  child  and  only  $2.40  for 
the  education  of  the  colored  children. 
In  this  county  (Wake)  it  is  $7.89  for 
each  white  child  and  $2.64  for  each  col- 
ored child.  Fortunately  there  has  been 
supplementary  aid  by  donations  or  de- 
vises from  philanthropic  northern  peo- 
ple to  the  education  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple, .particularly  by  the  five  great  funds 
known  as  the  Jeanes  Foundation,  the 
Slater  Fund,  the  Rosenwald  Fund,  the 
Phelps  Stokes  Fund,  and  the  General 
Education  Fund.  And  besides,  the  col- 
ored people  themselves  have  contributed 
by  voluntary  donations  large  sums  for 
the  support  of  education. 

The  loss  to  the  State  in  not  increas- 
ing efficiency  by  the  support  of  educa- 
tion was  shown  by  Aycock,  Alderman, 
Mclver,  and  Joyner,  and  their  co-labor- 
ers in  their  apostolic  campaigns  to 
arouse  our  people  to  proper  efforts  in 
this  respect.  Yet  it  is  said  that  there 
is  $70,000,000  invested  in  automobiles  I 
in  this  State,  while  the  entire  cost  of  ' 
our  school  buildings  and  equipments  of 
all  kinds  for  education,  from  the  State 
University  down,-  is  less  than  $14,000,- 
000. 

Growth  in  Wealth 

Id  the  first  few  years  of  freedom  the 
growth  in  wealth  of  the  colored  people 
was  slow.  As  late  as  1902  they  listed 
in  North  Carolina  for  taxation  only 
about  $11,000,000.  In  1917  they  were 
on  the  tax  list  for  $37,000,000.  In  191S 
this  had  grown  to  $4S,000,000.  Doubt- 
less this  year,  at  the  same  rate,  the 
property  owned  by  colored  people  on 
the  tax  list  would  be  $65,000,000.  If 
it  is  true,  as  generally  estimated,  that 
property  is  listed  in  this  State  at  one- 
third  its  value,  the  colored  people  of 
the  State  must  own  around  $200,000,000. 
Among  the  colored  people  of  this  coun- 
try there  are  several  well  known  million- 
aires. One  colored  woman  who  died 
recently  in  New  York  disposed  by  her 
will  of  more  than  $1,000,000,  of  which 
she  left  $100,000  to  charitable  pur- 
poses. In  North  Carolina  there  is  more 
than  one  colored  man  who  is  believed  to 
have  passed  the  $100,000  mark. 

It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  entire  peo- 
ple of  the  State  that  the  colored  peo- 
ple should  be  educated  and  aspire  to 
obtain  a  higher  standard  of  living  and 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  RECORD 


u 

I 


I 


on 


well  being  and  to  become  owners  of 
property,  and  especially  of  real  estate. 
Educated  men  owning  a  stake  in  the 
country,  living  in  their  own  homes, 
whether  in  country  or  town  and  on  good 
terms  with  their  neighbors,  can  never 
be  a  dangerous  element  to  the  stability 
of  government,  but  will  be  a  strong  sup- 
port to  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order. 

As  a  brief  summary  of  the  financial 
condition  to  which  the  colored  people 
have  attained  I  give  the  following  frag- 
mentary statement  taken  from  the 
United  States  government  reports. 

It  is  stated  therein  that  the  colored 
people  in  the  late  war  aided  the  govern- 
ment by  buying  $225,000,000  of  Liberty 
Bonds,  and  made  other  large  contribu- 
tions to  war  activities.  In  the  United 
States  colored  men  own  over  700,000 
homes,  and  seventy-five  per  cent  of 
them  can  read  and  write.  The  per- 
centage would  be  larger  but  for  the 
illiteracy  of  the  older  negroes  in  the 
South  who  had  no  school  advantages. 
The  colored  people  have  500  colleges  or 
other  high  institutions  of  learning, 
worth  in  equipments  and  endowments 
.$22,000,000  and  supported  by  themselves 
with  aid  from  the  states  and  some  as- 
sistance from  the  funds  si>oken  of  and 
other  contributions.  In  the  whole 
Union  there  are  1,800,000  colored  stu- 
dents in  the  public  schools.  The  ex- 
penditures for  education  of  the  colored 
race  in  the  South  is  annually  $15,000,- 
000,  of  which  $500,000  is  contributed  by 
themselves,  besides  their  share  of  the 
taxes.  They  own  45,000  churches  with 
4,500,000  members,  and  the  value  of 
their  church  property  is  $90,000,000. 
Throughout  the  South,  especially  in 
Texas,  there  are  colored  men  owning 
500  to  5,000  acres  each. 

In  one  comity  in  Georgia  there  are 
three  times  as  many  colored  men  own- 
ing farms  as  white  men,  and  this  is  not 
an  exceptional  case.  In  another  county 
four-fifths  of  all  the  farms  cultivated 
by  their  owners  were  cultivated  by  col- 
ored men  and  there  was  no  mortgage 
whatever  recorded  on  the  farms  owned 
by  the  negroes. 

From  a  tax  list  furnished  me  by  the 
State  Tax  Commission  I  find  that  in 
1919  the  colored  people  listed  in  North 
Carolina  over  $51,000,000  property,  the 
highest  in  this  respect  being  Halifax 
County,  with  nearly  two  and  one-half 
millions  property  listed  by  colored  men, 
the  next  highest  being  Wake  with  $2,- 
377,000,  and  Warren  being  third  with 
$1,622,000.  By  the  census  of  1910  there 
were  21,443  colored  men  owning  the 
farms  on  which  they  lived  and  44,139 
operating     farms     as     tenants.     These 


numbers    have   been    greatly    increased 
since. 

Government  Reports 

In  a  publication  issued  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  the  Interior  in 
1910  it  is  said  that  "No  other  racial 
group  in  the  United  States  shows  a  bet- 
ter adjustment  in  their  relations  with 
the  white  natives  than  the  10.000,000 
of  negroes  (now  11,000,000.  .  .  .(  In 
the  fifty  years  since  freedom,  illiteracy 
among  them  has  decreased  from  90  per 
cent  to  30  per  cent.  One  million  colored 
men  are  now  farmers,  either  as  renters 
or  owners ;  over  a  quarter  of  a  million 
of  them  being  owners,  and  the  total 
amount  of  land  owned  by  them  aggre- 
gates over  20,000,000  acres."  It  is  fur- 
ther said  that  they  are  "capable  of  prog- 
ress and  their  white  neighbors  have 
not  only  looked  with  favor  upon  their 
struggles  but  in  many  cases  have  given 
substantial  aid,  outside  of  that  fur- 
nished by  the  State  governments,  and 
that  it  is  clear  that  the  masses  of  the 
colored  people  are  just  beginning  to 
appreciate  the  possibilities  of  their 
gaining  an  independence  financially 
and  improving  their  moral  standards 
and  attaining  a  higher  grade  in  the 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  life.  But 
that  they  are  still  retarded  by  the  lin- 
gering ignorance  and  poverty  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  race  and  the  still  unfavor- 
able conditions  in  which  a  large  part 
of  them  are  compelled  to  live."  The  re- 
port comments  upon  the  fact  that  the 
death  rate  among  them  in  the  South 
was  nearly  double  that  of  the  whites 
and  that  there  are  five  times  as  many 
of  them  in  the  prisons  in  the  south  as 
whites,  but  adds  that  "The  decrease  of 
illiteracy  and  the  increasing  owner- 
ship of  land  and  other  property  are 
sure  evidences  of  the  inherent  worth 
of  the  colored  people  and  of  the  genu- 
ine friendship  of  their  white  neighbors." 
It  also  said  that  the  gifts  of  the  colored 
people  to  the  public  schools  in  the 
South  over  and  above  the  support  given 
by  State  aid  and  the  charitable  funds 
already  mentioned  would  aggregate 
over  half  a  million  dollars  a  year  over 
and  above  their  share  of  the  public 
taxes.  This  was  said  four  years  ago, 
and  doubtless  today  these  figures  as  to 
the  ownership  of  property  and  the  de- 
crease of  illiteracy  have  been  very 
largely  bettered. 

Among  the  later  statistics  it  appears 
that  there  are  in  the  South  more  than 
50,000  colored  men  engaged  in  business 
as  bankers,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  in 
various  other  business  other  than  farm- 
ing. There  are  now  in  the  South  100 
banks  owned  and  operated  entirely  by 
colored  men,  having  an  aggregate  capi- 
tal of  three  and  one-half  million  dollars 


and  doing  more  than  $50,000,000  busi- 
ness annually.  The  center  of  colored 
population,  which  at  the  first  census  in 
1790  was  near  Petersburg,  is  now  in 
Northern  Alabama.  Much  more  infor- 
mation could  be  given  from  the  official 
reports,  of  the  almost  marvelous  prog- 
ress which  the  colored  race  has  made 
along  these  lines,  but  it  would  take  too 
much  of  your  time.  The  race  has  fur- 
nished, and  from  the  South,  orators, 
painters,  sculptors,  authors,  poets,  mu- 
sicians, lawyers,  doctors,  and  bankers 
prominent  in  their  professions.  For 
music  and  poetry  the  colored  people 
seem  to  have  an  especial  talent. 

I  will  give  only  two  quotations  from 
the  many  interesting  letters  which  I 
have  received  from  public  officials  in 
sending  the  literature  requested.  A 
chief  of  bureau  in  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  writes :  "The 
negroes  as  a  rule  are  ready  and  willing 
to  take  advice  and  have  followed  it 
even  more  closely  than  the  average 
white  farmer."  The  latest  official  re- 
port shows  that  the  colored  people  in 
the  South  own  35,000  square  miles  of 
land,  a  territory  nearly  a  fifth  larger 
than  the  entire  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

Interracial  Harmony 
Dr.  James  H.  Dillard,  in  a  recent  ad- 
dress says  :  "Never  in  the  history  of  x 
the  world  has  any  race  in  the  same 
length  of  time  made  such  progress  in 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  im- 
provements as  the  colored  race  has 
done  in  the  last  sixty  years.  There  are 
still  thousands  who  are  uneducated, 
thousands  who  are  very  poor  and  in 
need  of  moral  advancement."  And  he 
added,  "Never  before  in  history,  during 
the  short  period  of  sixty  years  have 
two  races — thrown  together  as  these 
two  races — been  known  to  make  such 
approach  towards  satisfactory  adjust- 
ment. .  .  .  We  forget  that  a  period 
of  56  years  is  a  short  time  in  history ; 
that  habits  of  thought  and  habits  of 
feeling  are  not  changed  overnight.  It 
takes  time  for  individual  habits  of 
thought  and  individual  habits  of  feel- 
ing to  change.  It  takes  even  longer  for 
the  habits  and  morals  and  customs  of  a 
whole  people  to  change,  and  we  have 
got  to  be  patient,  as  Carlyle  said,  'yet 
awhile,'  "  and  adds :  "We  are  here  in 
the  South  together,  we  are  going  to  stay 
together,  and  the  sensible  people  of 
both  races  know  and  feel  and  believe 
more  and  more  that  it  is  much  better 
for  us  to  stay  here  in  good  fellowship 
and  cooperation  than  in  hostility." 

Farm  Ownership 

Mr.  C.  R.  Hudson  of  our  State  offic- 
ial demonstration  work,  writes  a  most 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  RECORD 


interesting  letter,  from  which  I  would 
be  glad  to  quote  largely,  but  from  which 
I  would  take  this  only :  "The  average 
yield  of  corn  in  the  State  last  year  was 
about  20  bushels  per  acre.  The  yield 
of  negro  farmers  was  probably  not  over 
12  bushels  per  acre.  Over  500  farmers 
who  were  following  our  teachings  on 
4,500  acres  produced  an  average  of 
40%0  bushels  per  acre,  or  twice  the 
average  yield  of  the  State.  Results 
were  similar  in  the  growing  of  cotton 
and  other  crops.  The  important  fact 
in  this  connection  is  that  these  high 
yields  were  made  without  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  cost  of  production, 
but  in  most  cases  with  a  reduction  in 
the  cost  per  acre."  Besides  further  in- 
teresting details  as  to  their  purchase 
of  154  dairy  cows  of  improved  strains 
and  of  hogs  and  poultry  and  planting 
of  orchards  and  in  cooperative  buying 
and  selling  and  the  preparation  of  food 
and  in  sanitation  and  canning  and  other 
details  he  says  of  our  State  along  these 
lines :  "Negroes  are  taught  to  make 
their  farms  self-supporting  rather  than 
to  depend  on  the  buying  of  home  sup- 
plies at  high  rate  time  prices  or  the 
borrowing  of  money  at  exorbitant 
rates.  We  believe  that  since  the  negro 
is  with  us  to  stay,  anything  that  can  be 
done  to  help  him  help  himself  is  benefic- 
ial for  the  white  race  and  the  country 
as  a  whole.  .  .  .  The  attitude  of 
negro  farmers  towards  the  bettering 
of  their  condition  shows  they  are  in- 
tensely interested  in  these  matters. 
They  are  calling  for  help;  they  are 
teachable ;  they  respond  readily  to  sug- 
gestions and  follow  the  methods  given 
very  satisfactorily.  "We  believe  that 
the  outlook  for  the  negro  race  for  the 
future  is  very  bright.  The  better 
methods  which  they  are  rapidly  getting 
will  give  them  funds  with  which  to  bet- 
ter their,  condition.  Civilization  can 
rise  no  higher  than  the  earning  capac- 
ity of  the  masses  of  its  people  to  sup- 
port." This  is  a  very  statesmanlike 
conclusion  in  which  the  ablest  minds 
of  the  country  will  concur. 

Dr.  E.  O.  Branson  of  the  State  Uni- 
versity, in  an  address  made  some  two 
years  ago  on  "The  Negro  Working  Out 
His  Own  Salvation,"  says  :  "During  the 
last  30  years  the  negroes  of  the  South 
have  come  to  feel  that  bank  books  and 
bonds  are  more  important  than  ballot 
boxes."  And  he  adds  that  one-fourth  of 
all  the  negro  farmers  in  the  South  (not 
including  laborers)  own  their  farms — 
in  Florida,  Kentucky,  Oklahoma,  Mary- 
land, and  Virginia,  more  than  half  of 
them ;  in  West  Virginia,  four-fifths ; 
and  that  while  they  have  increased  10 
per  cent  in  population  they  have  in- 
creased  17   per   cent   in   ownership   of 


farms  as  against  12  per  cent  increase  of 
white  farm  owners  throughout  the 
South.  In  Georgia  the  white  farm  own- 
ers increased  7  per  cent  and  the  negro 
farm  owners  38  per  cent.  In  North 
Carolina  there  was  an  increase  of  only 
9  per  cent  white  farm  owners  and  22 
per  cent  colored,  and  in  Arkansas  about 
the  same. 

Along  this  line  the  "University  News 
Letter"  states  that  the  census  shows 
that  in  the  counties  of  Warren  and 
Halifax  there  are  more  colored  men 
working  on  land  which  they  own  than 
white  men.  This  does  not  mean,  of 
course,  that  they  own  a  larger  number 
of  acres,  for  their  holdings  generally 
must  be  smaller  than  many  of  the  hold- 
ings among  the  whites. 

Education  in  North  Carolina 

While  North  Carolina  has  not  done 
what  she  should  as  to  education  for 
either  colored  or  white,  this  State  has 
a  larger  percentage  of  colored  children 
in  the  public  schools  (over  75  per  cent) 
than  any  other  southern  State,  except 
Oklahoma.  In  this  State  there  is  for 
the  colored  people,  maintained  by  the 
State,  an  A.  and  M.  College,  an  Insane 
Asylum,  a  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  Blind 
Institute  ;  10  county  training  schools  ;  3 
Normal  Schools,  and  3S  separate  county 
superintendents  of  education  for  the 
colored  people. 

No  Negro  Problem 

A  northern  man  not  long  since  told 
me  that  the  greatest  drawback  at  the 
South  was  what  he  called  the  "Negro 
Problem."  I  told  him  that  frankly 
there  was  no  "Negro  Problem."  I 
pointed  him  to  the  fact  that  the  north, 
where  the  immigation  from  the  least 
advanced  states  in  Europe  for  severab 
years  prior  to  the  war  had  average 
over  a  million  a  year,  they  had  millions 
speaking  all  languages,  advocating  all 
kinds  of  isms,  and  professing  all  kinds 
of  religion,  and  many  of  them  ignorant 
of  our  customs  and  our  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, there  was  perpetual  hostility 
between  the  different  races  and  to- 
wards the  government,  whereas  down 
here  the  colored  people  were  all  native 
born,  there  was  no  diversity  of  langu- 
ages, for  they  all  spoke  our  own  speech 
and  they  were  100  per  cent  loyal  to 
the  government.  I  told  him  that  in  no 
country  that  I  knew  of  was  there  bet- 
ter feeling  between  the  races.  In  Ire- 
land the  immense  majority  are  Catho- 
lics and  Celts,  while  the  English  are 
mostly  Protestants  and  arrogant,  with 
the  result  that  Ireland  is  in  perpetual 
rebellion.  In  Austria  there  were  ten  or 
twelve  different  races,  ignorant  of  each 
others'  language,  antagonistic  to  each 
others'  religious  views  and  in  perpetual 
turmoil  and  there  was  not  a  state  in 


Europe  scarcely  which  did  not  have  its 
problems  of  one  or  more  "subject  races." 
At  the  South  we  all  speak  the  same 
tongue  and  practically  there  is  no  hos- 
tility on  account  of  religion,  which  is 
ever  the  cause  of  the  bitterest  antago- 
nism wherever  it  exists. 

It  is  true  that  our  colored  people 
wear  "the  shadowed  livery  of  the  bur- 
nished sun"  and  there  is  no  social 
equality  between  the  races,  but  the  lat- 
ter condition  exists  in  every  country 
where  there  are  two  or  more  distinct 
races  of  people.  The  colored  people  do 
not  wish  social  equality,  and  the  white 
people  would  not  tolerate  it,  and  there 
the  matter  ends.  It  is  not  a  matter  of 
debate,  but  is  settled  and  not  a  cause 
of  strife  like  the  divergence  in  langu- 
age, in  religion,  in  national  aspirations 
which  exists  in  nearly  every  other 
country. 

Administration  of  Justice 
As  to  the  administration  of  justice 
with  which  in  some  capacity  I  have 
been  associated  all  my  life,  I  told  my 
friend  that  there  was  absolute  equal- 
ity. A  colored  man  may  have  differen- 
ces with  a  white  man,  as  will  happen 
between  any  two  men,  but  when  they 
go  into  the  courthouse  to  have  it  set- 
tled every  man  knows  that  colored  men 
are  at  no  disadvantage.  The  white  men 
on  the  jury,  with  the  pride  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  will  see  that  equal 
and  exact  justice  is  done,  and  if  ever  I 
have  seen  any  partiality  shown  it  is 
that  if  the  juries  and  the  judges  have 
tipped  the  scales  at  all,  it  has  been  in 
favor  of  the  colored  men  upon  the  in- 
nate belief  that  if  any  advantage  has 
been  taken  it  has  been  by  the  white 
man  by  reason  of  his  advantages. 

War  Record  of  Negro 
I  have  spoken  of  the  loyalty  of  the 
colored  man.  No  sedition  laws  have 
ever  been  needed  for  him.  At  all  times 
he  has  stood  by  his  country  and  its  in- 
stitutions. His  good  humor  and  cheer- 
fulness, patience  and  endurance  make 
him  a  good  soldier.  The  record  of  the 
colored  mau  in  war  has  been  as  loyal 
and  patriotic  as  in  times  of  peace.  Dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  War  there  were 
thousands  of  colored  men  who  served  in 
the  Patriot  Army  under  Washington. 
The  first  Patriot  killed  in  that  strug- 
gle was  a  negro,  Crispus  Attucks, 
whose  monument  in  bronze  stands  on 
Boston  Commons.  At  Bunker  Hill, 
Major  Pitcairn  of  the  British  Army 
was  killed  by  Peter  Salem,  a  colored 
soldier.  Amid  the  dark  days  of  Valley 
Forge  one-seventh  of  Washington's 
army  was  colored  men.  In  those  crude 
times  they  served  in  the  same  compa- 
nies with  the  whites,  and  many  thous- 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  RECORD 


anils  of  them  won  their  freedom  from 
their  owners  by  service  in  the  Patriot 
armies.  In  the  War  of  1S12  there  were 
many  colored  troops,  but  they  usually 
served  in  separate  regiments  under 
white  officers.  There  were  several  regi- 
ments of  these  under  Jackson  in  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans  when  he  broke 
forever  the  British  power  on  this  Con- 
tinent. After  the  battle  General  Andrew 
Jackson  issued  a  special  general  order 
thanking  the  colored  troops  for  their 
patiotism  and  valor.  In  the  great  Civil 
War  on  the  Northern  side  17S.000  col- 
ored men  served  as  soldiers.  Many  of 
these  were,  of  course,  from  the  North, 
where  they  lived.  On  the  Southern  side, 
while  there  were  no  colored  troops  in 
our  army  until  very  late  in  the  war 
there  were  many  thousands  of  them 
who  were  most  efficient  help  to  the 
Southern  army,  as  much  so  as  if  they 
had  borne  arms.  They  made  the  roads 
over  which  our  armies  marched.  They 
threw  up  most  of  the  breastworks  and 
forts  behind  which  the  Southern  sold- 
iers fought,  and  more  than  all,  they 
made  the  crops,  the  food  and  the  cotton 
for  clothing,  necessary  to  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  Southern  army.  And 
during  those  four  eventful  years, 
though  knowing  that  their  freedom  was 
at  stake,  and  that  the  able-bodied  white 
men  were  at  the  front,  be  it  said  to 
their  everlasting  credit,  no  harm  came 
from  them  to  any  white  woman  or 
white  child  throughout  the  wide  bor- 
der  of  the  Confederacy.  They  were 
loyal  to  the  people  among  whom  they 
lived,  and  to  the  government.  In  the 
Southern  Army  there  were  thousands 
of  colored  men  as  cooks  and  body  serv- 
ants. There  were  many  instances  in 
which  the  latter  carried  their  wounded 
masters  off  the  field  under  fire  and  took 
them  or  their  dead  bodies  home.  I  never 
heard  of  a  single  instance  in  which  any 
of  these  men  deserted. 

Later  in  our  War  with  Spain  the  col- 
ored troops  went  to  the  front  in  pro- 
portion to  their  numbers  equally  with 
the  whites.  That  is  about  one-tenth  of 
our  300,000  troops  in  that  war  were  col- 
ored. North  Carolina  sent  two  white 
regiments  of  12  companies  each  and 
one  colored  regiment  of  10  companies, 
officered  by  colored  men  and  com- 
manded by  Col.  James  H.  Young  of 
this  city.  And  there  is  no  complaint 
on  record  as  to  their  conduct  in-  camp 
or  in  the  field.  They  were  native-born 
North  Carolinians  and  conducted  them- 
selves as  such.  At  Santiago,  at  San 
Juan  Hill,  where  Mr.  Roosevelt  won  his 
promotion  to  the  presidency,  the  two 
colored  calvary  regiments  in  the  regu- 
lar army  (9th  and  10th  Cavalry)  bore 
the  brunt  of  the  fight.  They  were  com- 
manded by  white  officers  and  at  the 
head  of  one  of  these  companies  Capt. 
William  E.  Shipp,  of  this  State,  met  a 
soldier's  death  along  with  men  he  led. 

Negro  in  World  War 

In  the  late  World  War  of  the  four 
and  one-half  million  men  drawn  as  sol- 
diers 458,000,  just  about  one-tenth, 
were  colored  men.  On  the  fields  of 
France  they  proved  again  their  capac- 
ity and  their  courage  in  the  service  of 
their  country  and  on  more  than  one 
occasion.  Of  the  80.000  soldiers  fur- 
nished by  North  Carolina  over  25,000 
were  colored.    These  colored  troops  dis- 


tinguished themselves  and  helped  to 
save  the  day.  At  Chateau  Thierry, 
when  the  dense  columns  of  the  Ger- 
mans had  driven  out  the  French  and 
were  bending  back  the  second  line,  the 
colored  troops  from  North  Carolina,  and 
other  Southern  States,  came  up  and 
held  the  line.  Just  here  I  will  say  that 
the  officers  who  commanded  these  col- 
ored troops  must  have  been  Southern- 
ers, or  at  least  they  understood  negro 
psychology,  for  on  every  critical  oc- 
casion when  they  were  thrown  in,  they 
went  in  singing. 

After  the  War 

I  remember  seeing  in  northern  maga- 
zines the  statement  that  when  the  war 
was  over  and  these  colored  soldiers 
should  be  disbanded  then  would  come 
the  strain :  that  they  would  not  go  back 
into  the  places  from  which  they  came, 
but  would  assert  new  rights  and  privi- 
leges and  claim  equality.  We  south- 
ern men  knew  them,  and  they  knew 
us,  better.  When  these  regiments  and 
companies  were  disbanded  it  was  done 
quietly  and  without  disturbance.  The 
colored  soldiers  who  did  their  duty  in 
France  are  now,  as  they  were  before 
the  war,  helping  in  the  industries  of 
civil  life  and  undistinguishable  from 
their  fellows,  who  were  not  in  the  war. 
Only  one  disturbance  throughout  the 
country  has  been  reported  and  that  at 
Washington  City.  I  will  not  discuss  the 
conflicting  accounts  as  to  the  cause  of 
that,  but  certainly  there  has  been  no 
such  trouble  in  North  Carolina,  nor  so 
far  as  I  remember  anywhere  else  in 
the  South,  from  disbanded  men. 

It  is  but  justice  to  the  colored  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina,  and  to  ourselves, 
to  say  that  in  the  more  than  half  cen- 
tury of  freedom  the  vast  body  of  them 
have  been  industrious,  law-abiding,  and 
on  good  terms  with  their  white  neigh- 
bors. They  have  not  been  assuming, 
hut  have  patiently  borne  hardships 
and  poverty,  hoping  for  a  better  day.  It 
is  to  the  interest  and  duty  of  the  white 
people  to  recognize  this  and  encourage 
them  not  only  by  doing  them  equal  and 
exact  justice  but  by  aiding  them  in  all 
their  legitimate  aspirations  for  obtain- 
ing education  and  a  better  and  higher 
standard  of  living. 

Lynching  is  Lawlessness 

There  has  been  no  complaint  by  the 
colored  people  as  to  partiality  in  the 
courts,  and  I  think  there  has  been  none 
as  to  any  inequality  in  the  laws.  There 
has  been  complaint  as  to  lynchings.  but 
that  is  not  a  matter  of  law,  but  law- 
lessness, which  officials  have  endeav- 
ored to  prevent  and  have  done  so  when- 
ever they  could.  There  have  been  lynch- 
ings of  white  people  as  well  as  of  col- 
ored. This  is  not  a  matter  of  race  but 
of  the  lawless  passions  of  men  who  be- 
lieve that  prompt  action  is  necessary  be- 
cause the  processes  of  the  courts,  often 
uncertain,  are  often  too  long  delayed. 
Personally  I  believe  that  the  true  cure 
for  lynching  is  in  the  promptest  and 
most  efficient  execution  of  the  laws. 

Remedy  for  Discrimination 

There  has  been  some  times  complaint 
as  to  what  is  known  as  the  "Jim  Crow 
cars,"  which  are  established  by  law. 
At  the  North,  where  there  are  few 
colored  people  in  proportion  to  the  pop- 


ulation, the  railroads  cannot  afford  to 
furnish  separate  cars  for  them.  With 
us,  where  nearly  one-third  of  the 
people  are  colored,  and  probably  one- 
fourth  of  the  travelers  by  rail,'  it  is 
better  for  them  and  the  whites  that 
separate  cars  should  be  furnished  for 
them.  The  real  objection  is  that  some- 
times these  cars  are  inferior  to  tiiose 
furnished  the  whites.  This  is  contrary 
to  the  law,  which  requires  the  same 
rate  to  be  charged  for  fare  and  the 
same  and  equally  good  accommodations 
furnished  for  both  races.  When  rhis  is 
not  done  it  is  not  because  of  the  law, 
but  in  violation  of  it,  and  the  remedy  is 
by  application  to  the  Corporation  Com- 
mission to  require  better  accommoda- 
tions. 

Suffrage 

As  to  suffrage,  which  I  do  not  intend 
to  discuss  in  any  way,  I  think  that  the 
wiser  heads  among  the  colored  people 
have  discouraged  any  attempt  to  in- 
termeddle in  politics  and  that  the  col- 
ored race  has  lost  nothing  but  gained 
much  by  abstaining  from  doing  so 
against  the  wishes  of  the  white  peo- 
ple, notwithstanding  the  decision  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  that  the 
"Grandfather  Clause"  is  void. 

Best  White  People  in  South  Wish 
Negro  Well 

Being  Southern-born  and  having  lived 
here  all  my  life,  and  having  traveled 
somewhat  in  foreign  countries.  I  believe 
there  is  no  other  county  or  locality  in 
which  there  is  more  than  one  race, 
where  they  live  on  as  friendly  rela- 
tions with  each  other  as  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  that  there  is  no  large  body  of 
labor  of  another  race  that  is  more'  ef- 
ficient and  less  assuming  or  trouble- 
some than  the  colored  people  of  the 
South. 

The  Southern  people  as  a  rule  take 
an  interest  in  your  welfare  and  if  they 
have  not  done  more  for  the  education 
of  your  children  it  is  because  they  have 
not  done  as  much  as  they  should  for 
the  white  children.  When  the  Civil 
War  ended  the  South  was  devastated, 
its  property  destroyed,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  its  best  and  noblest  young  men 
dead  on  the  battlefield.  Our  people 
had  to  start  life  anew,  without  capital 
and  with  their  labor  system  disorgan- 
zed.  Then  there  came  upon  us  the 
trouble  of  Reconstruction,  which  left 
some  bitterness  behind,  but  since  then 
there  has  been  a  steady  increase  in 
prosperity  and  at  all  times  friendly  co- 
operation between  the  races. 

Your  growth  in  education,  in  the  ac- 
quirement of  property,  in  the  attain- 
ment of  better  standards  of  living,  have 
been  almost  marvelous.  Your  pros- 
perity makes  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
whole  people.  Any  man  who  would 
willfully  create  prejudice  between  the 
races  is  an  enemy  to  both. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  very  clear  that 
the  colored  people  have  become  masters 
of  their  own  destinies  and  are  working 
out  their  own  salvation  along  their 
own  lines.  Intelligent  men,  good  men, 
who  desire  the  good  of  the  whole 
people,  must  view  with  pleasure  and 
with  pride  the  success  of  these  peo- 
ple, natives  of  our  own  State,  subject 
to  our  laws,  adding  to  our  prosperity, 
living  peaceful,  industrial  lives,  and 
should,  and   I   believe  will,   give   them 


ST.  AUGUSTINE'S  RECORD 


every  encouragement  and  aid  in   their 
power. 

Colored  friends,  I  believe  I  .speak  the 
sentiment  of  the  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  white  people  of  North  Carolina 
when  I  say  that  we  have  appreciation 
of  your  fidelity  to  our  institutions, 
your  loyalty  to  our  State,  the  great 
contributions  you  are  making  to  the 
wealth  of  the  country  and  of  your  laud- 
able ambition  to  better  your  condition, 
and  that  we  wish  you  a  continuance 
of  your  success  and  the  good  reputa- 
tion as  a  people  which  yon  have  so  well 
and  nobly  earned. 


Report  of  St.  Augustine's  School, 
Including  St.  Agnes  Hospital 


The  following  report  was  made  at  the 
Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  North 
Carolina,  May  4-6,  1920 : 

During  the  past  school  year  there 
have  been  507  students  enrolled  in  all 
departments,  the  largest  number  in  the 
history  of  the  institution.  They  will 
have  paid  over  $1S,000  toward  their 
board  and  tuition. 

During  the  year  a  new  building  has 
been  erected  for  Teacher-Training  and 
Normal  Work.  The  General  Education 
Board  of  New  York  City  contributed 
$5,000  toward  the  cost  of  the  building. 
The  same  Board  has  given  $2,000  toward 
the  expense  of  equipping  our  proposed 
model  farm,  which  will  be  used  as  a 
practical  illustration  of  what  can  be 
accomplished  by  scientific  methods  in 
small-scale  farming. 

The  Raleigh  Board  of  Education  has 
undertaken  to  provide  a  high  school 
training  for  colored  children  by  paying 
the  tuition  of  Raleigh  students  enter- 
ing the  Academic  Department  of  St. 
Augustine's  School  or  Shaw  University. 

After  twenty-five  years  of  fruitful 
service  Mrs.  A.  B.  Hunter  has  retired 
as  active  head  of  St.  Agnes  Hospital, 
of  which  she  was  the  founder,  and  has 
become  Honorary  Superintendent.  Dr. 
Mary  V.  Glenton,  well  known  for  her 
missionary  work  in  Alaska  and  China, 
who  has  been  resident  physician  at  the 
hospital  for  the  past  two  years,  is  now 
Acting  Superintendent. 

She  reports  that  since  May  1,  1019, 
there  have  been  1,110  patients,  648  ope- 
rations, and  19,973  hospital  days.  The 
expenditures  have  been  about  $28,000, 
of  which  amount  over  $20,000  has  been 
paid  by  the  patients.  Nine  nurses  have 
been  graduated. 

The  religious  work  in  the  School  and 
neighborhood  has  shown  a  healthy 
growth.  Every  teacher  and  student 
made  a  pledge  toward  the  Nation-Wide 
Campaign  Fund.  Since  my  last  report 
there  have  been  fifty  persons  baptized 
and   eighteen   confirmed  in   St.   Augus- 


tine's Chapel.  This  should  mean  much 
for  the  future  strength  of  our  Church 
work  among  the  Negroes. 

Five  graduates  and  former  students 
of   the    School   are   now   attending   the 
Bishop  Fayne  Divinity   School. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

Edgar  H.  Goold, 

Principal. 


The  Events  of  Commencement 
Season 


Thursday,  May  20,  S  :00  p.m. 

Closing  Exercises  of  the  Practice 

School. 

Friday,  May  21,  8  :00  p.m. 

Barber  Prize-Speaking  Contest 

Saturday,  May  22,  8:00  p.m. 

Class   Exercises   With   Play, 

"When  the  Fates  Decree" 

Sunday,  May'  23,  5:00  p.m. 

Baccalaureate   Sermon,  by  the  Rev.  A. 

Myron  Cochran,  Rector  of  St. 

Ambrose  Church,  Raleigh. 

Monday,  May  28,  8  :00  p.m. 

Anniversary  of   the   Literary   Societies 

Tuesday,  May  25,  7  :30  p.m. 

Musical 

Tuesday,  9  :00  p.m. 

Alumni  Supper. 

Wednesday,  May  26,  10  :00  a.m. 

Annual  Commencement 

Wednesday,  3  :30  p.m. 

Business  Meeting  of  the  Alumni 

(Taylor  Hall) 


The  following  account  of  our  Com- 
mencement exercises  is  taken  from  the 
Raleigh  Times  of  May  26: 

The  sound  of  the  hammer  and  saw 
was  mingled  with  the  music  and 
choruses  and  commencement  speeches 
at  St.  Augustine's  School,  Wednesday 
morning,  not  as  a  disturbing  olement 
outside  the  hall,  but  as  an  interesting 
feature  of  the  exercises  of  the  morning. 
In  less  than  ten  minutes,  on  the  stage, 
in  sight  of  the  audience,  pieces  of  wood 
were  sawed  and  nailed  into  shape  as  a 
substantial  porch  bench.  The  carpen- 
try demonstration  was  given  by  Pariis 
Holland,  with  two  assistants.  Cooking 
and  sewing  demonstrations  have  been 
given  at  St.  Augustine's  commencement 
before,  but  this  was  the  first  time  the 
carpentry  work  had  been  featured. 
Preceding  the  making  of  the  bench, 
Laura  Elma  Harrison  gave  a  demon- 
stration in  sewing,  featuring  the  use  of 
unbleached  muslin  as  a  substitute  for 
linen.  She  gave  many  suggestions  for 
the  use  of  unbleached  muslin  for  gar- 
ments,    curtains,     luncheon     sets,     tea 


cloths,  bed-room  sets,  and  bed  cover- 
lets, and  exhibited  several  articles  at- 
tractively touched  up  with  colored  em- 
broidery and  crochet  work. 

With  a  boy  acting  as  the  "patient" 
Theresa  Exodus  Barringer  and  Jessie 
Mae  Alford,  two  of  the  graduates  of 
the  St.  Agnes  Training  School  for 
Nurses,  gave  a  demonstration  in  ban- 
daging the  head  for  a  scalp  wound  and 
bandaging  the  arm  for  a  fracture  when 
no  splint  is  handy. 

The  salutatory  address,  "The  Value 
of  Self-control,"  was  delivered  by  Nezza 
Maud  Jackson,  and  the  valedictory  ad- 
dress, "Education,"  by  Drucilla  Alex- 
andria Lushington. 

Among  the  musical  numbers  the  plan- 
tation melody,  "Some  o'  Dese  Morn- 
in's,"  was  especially  enjoyable,  also  the 
chorus,  "Lift  Every  Voice  and  Sing," 
the  national  negro  hymn. 

Address  by  Judge  Clark 
Chief  Justice  Walter  Clark  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina  in 
the  commencement  address  of  the  morn- 
ing reviewed  some  of  the  things  that 
have  been  accomplished  by  the  negroes 
in  North  Carolina  for  the  past  fifty 
years  for  their  own  advancement  and 
for  the  benefit  of  the  State.  (Here  fol- 
lowed extracts  from  the  address  of 
Chief  Justice  Clark,  printed  in  full 
elsewhere  in  this  issue.) 

Splendid  Exhibit  of  AVork 

The  demonstration  in  carpentry  and 
sewing  included  in  the  exercises  of  the 
morning  served  to  attract  attention  to 
the  splendid  work  shown  in  one  of  the 
buildings  on  the  campus.  There  was 
furniture  that  would  have  done  credit 
to  the  most  up-to-date  furniture  store 
made  by  the  students  in  cabinet  mak- 
ing,.a  display  of  dressmaking  that  might 
have  been  taken  from  the  racks  of 
Raleigh's  most  high-class  ready-to- 
wear  shop,  cookery  that  would  have 
graced  the  table  of  the  best  home. 
■  Tables.  desks,  chairs,  benches, 
chests,  desks,  kitchen  cabinets,  side- 
boards, and  china  closets,  almost  en- 
tirely hand-made,  were  included  in  the 
display.  The  dress-making  included 
underwear,  women's  and  children's 
dresses,  and  both  plain  and  fancy  sew- 
ing. The  exhibit  of  cooking  included 
both  plain  and  fancy  dishes  also.  There 
were  breads  and  meats,  deserts  and 
salads. 

The  exhibit  is  altogether  one  that  is 
well  worth  taking  the  time  to  see. 

St.  Augustine's  is  planning  to  turn 
into  a  model  farm  the  hill  just  east  of 
the  school,  bordering  on  the  Milburnie 
road.  There  is  already  a  fund  for  this 
purpose  furnished  by  the  general  edu- 
cation board.  It  is  planned  to  make 
that  section  of  the  school  property  not 
only  a  model  farm  but  an  ornament  to 
that  part  of  the  community. 


